In my previous article, I talked about the pros and cons of paid search to position your website in top search results. As you can see, the advantages are as important as the disadvantages. So I should also detail the advantages and disadvantages of SEO that can be an alternative or complementary solution for advertisers who want to increase traffic to their website and generate conversions.
Advantages of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The huge benefit of SEO is that you can have several positions in the search results for the same query. Indeed, while Google allows only one result per advertiser in the case of sponsored ads on Google Adwords (except on Google Shopping), it is very common to see several natural results of the same advertiser for a given search:
By successfully position yourself several times on the first page of organic Google results for the same query, you greatly increase your chances of capturing traffic and thus you increase your authority in the eyes of Google for this request.
The other advantage of SEO over paid listings is that you do not pay each time someone clicks on your ad. This may seem trivial but competition on the Internet is becoming stronger between advertisers and clicks costs receive large increases as the number of players increases.
If we take an average conversion rate of 3% on Google AdWords (that is to say 3 people out of 100 who clicked on your ad will actually performed the action you expect of them) and a cost per click-through rate of $2 (which is quite common), we have you paying $200 for about 3 conversions. Your cost per conversion is therefore ($ 200/3 = 66 $). This figure may be interesting for some that sell products with higher sale prices, but this rate can also be too high for others, making it unprofitable compared to paid search engine optimization.
In the end, the third benefit of SEO is that anyone can take the top spots of search results. You do not need to bet huge sums to reach the top to be the greatest. In our case, we even managed to surpass LinkedIn in an advertising related query on its own platform!
With time and quality content, you can actually compete with larger companies to stand out even if you do not have a big budget. So take your best pen and make the happiness of your visitors by offering quality content!
Disadvantages OF SEO
As everything cannot be perfect, I’m going to have to talk about some of the disadvantages of SEO☺. The first disadvantage is that it takes time (a lot of time) and effort. When starting a SEO strategy, we are super motivated and have tons of ideas. Then we realize that writing a minimum of 500 words per page (the minimum advised to be taken seriously by search engines) is quite difficult. Also, Google likes sites that are updated regularly to prove that the site evolves and is not just abandoned. This requires that you are consistent in your publications to maintain your SEO and improve your SEO.
The second disadvantage that often discourages people is the fact that you will not immediately see the results of your work. Indeed, it is said that on average it takes 3 to 6 months to actually measure the impact of an SEO strategy on traffic and the performance of a site. Now you’re probably saying you do not have 6 months before you start to see results. For this I'd suggest only one thing: find the time because your competitors do! If we take a step back, it makes sense that we can not dethrone those who occupy the top spot of the search results in a snap, or else you will also be dethroned overnight which would quickly be discouraging.
Finally, the third major disadvantage of SEO is that everything must have a good foundation to achieve sustainable results. Indeed, more and more people and companies are using SEO techniques on Google and the competition is increasingly fierce. So we must begin by forming the basic SEO techniques and seek advice from real experts, otherwise you run the risk of developing bad practices that may harm your SEO when Google will make one of its famous updates. Also be careful to whom you entrust your SEO because it is your ranking on Google and your reputation that are at stake!
How to choose between SEO and paid listings?
The brave ones who have read all the previous blog posts will finally have the answer, two articles later. Ideally, having both is the best (SEO and paid listings) as they are actually complementary. If you have a limited budget, focus on keywords that bring you the most traffic and conversions and bet on Google Adwords while working on your SEO of these same keywords. So you can focus on your core applications and take up more space on search engines. In combining SEO and paid results, you'll clearly increase the visibility of your pages and your traffic.
If you really do not have it in your budget to pay for the services of a Google Adwords expert and/or the services of a SEO expert, focus on SEO. In fact, you may not have much money to invest but you probably have time. Therefore, you can more easily distinguish you company by taking the time to build a solid SEO strategy, rather than stressing about your advertising budget that will soon be limited as competitors may have a higher budget.
Again, feel free to contact us if you want us to help you with your SEO strategy.